The Parting Glass
by DixonVixen93
Summary: "The Rizzoli Family Christmas" 'verse: Newborn Kimberly is starting to become more and more troublesome. Much to Jane's severe disapproval, Maura calls on Angela for her help. Established Rizzles.


**Hey guys! So, I watched my first Rizzoli & Isles episode in quite a while and it made my plot bunnies go crazy. Here's a new "The Rizzoli Family Christmas" 'verse story. Kimberly is fairly young in this, so this could pick up where "When The Rain Falls" ended. **

**I do not own Rizzoli & Isles. **

_**The Parting Glass**_

Being a new mother wasn't easy for Doctor Rizzoli-Isles. Seeing how Loraine hadn't wanted anything to do with her baby, she couldn't fall back on her for maternal instincts. It was just her and Jane now. They had a precious life in their hands, and frankly, it was terrifying.

Maura couldn't wait to take Kimberly home. She couldn't wait to start dressing her up in adorable clothes, and to hold her in her arms and finally be able to call that baby _hers_. But now the doctor was at a loss. Little Kimberly was quite the fussy baby, all things considered. Nothing that Maura or Jane did ever seemed to calm the newborn down for very long.

After two weeks, Maura finally said enough. While her wife wasn't exactly very happy about the whole thing, they called on Angela for help. The honey blonde mother knew that rocky sleeping patterns weren't good for a newborn. If she were to rearrange the schedules, maybe Kimberly would go to sleep easily. Either way, though, Maura _needed_ a second opinion and she needed one now.

Jane gently rocked her daughter into what she hoped was a peaceful slumber. Kimberly was tucked in her bassinette for her afternoon nap, something that Rizzoli couldn't wait for herself. Between working and caring for her infant child, she was _exhausted. _

"Maybe I just haven't found the proper time to feed her at. I just—" Maura sat next to her wife and watched with a sad smile as Jane rocked their daughter. The bassinette was in between the couches, that way it was easier for either woman to get to Kimberly when she started to wake up from her nap. If someone didn't know that the Rizzoli-Isles home had a new addition, then they would surely find out when they hit the living room. Besides the bassinette in there, Kimberly had a bouncer, a box of toys and several different blankets that were thrown across the back of the couch (those were normally Jane's fault. If the girls were going to have company, Maura knew better than to have them out, dirty or not.)

"Maur, babe," the detective soothed, reaching out to cup her wife's face. "I don't know why you keep berating yourself like this. We're doing all we can for Kim."

"I'm calling Angela. Maybe she can sit down with us and talk about this over lunch," Maura began, holding an accusatory finger up as her wife went to protest. "Who else is there to talk to, Jane? Neither one of my mothers were exactly award-winning mothers…"

Jane groaned quietly, hoping to not wake her daughter, who had finally appeared to have dropped off into a light slumber. "Oh, come on! She's finally gone to sleep. Do we _have _to bring my mother into this?"

"Yes," Maura told her, holding her hazel eyes with her brown ones. "Our daughter's health is more important than your ego, Jane. I know that your mother embarrasses you—"

"Embarrass?" Jane scoffed. "That's an understatement," she just slightly cowered back as her wife narrowed her eyes. "Okay, okay! Doesn't mean that I gotta like it…"

The doctor smiled and leant forward to kiss her wife quickly, who just grumbled something incoherently under her breath.

o—o—o

Angela Rizzoli had always wanted children. She was a very nurturing woman, and probably would continue to be until her dying days. When her children grew up, though, she felt a little lost. The overbearing Italian mother would do anything for her three kids, just like she would do anything for the grandchildren that she hoped would come in the near future. Besides, she was already two out of three!

"Knock knock!" the elder Rizzoli called, wrapping her knuckles against the front door to her daughter's home. "Janie, Maura, it's me!"

Jane and Maura were in the kitchen, nursing very tall mugs of coffee when Angela starting knocking at the door. Parenting wasn't anywhere near solving a case at work, something that came as second nature now.

The younger Rizzoli just swore under her breath. "Crap, why does my mother always show up _early_ for everything we invite her to?"

Maura spared her wife a sympathetic smile. "Drink your coffee, dear. I'll go let Angela in." She left her stance next to Jane and hurried towards the front door, where the elder Rizzoli was waiting not so patiently.

Angela beamed her daughter-in-law a smile as she opened the door to let her inside. "Maura," she began, noticing the purple hues beneath her eyes. "How are you doing, honey? You look like you haven't gotten a good night's sleep in… quite a while."

"Kimberly isn't sleeping too well, and neither are we," Maura shook her head, closing the front door behind her mother-in-law. "How do you get her to go to sleep so easily when you babysit her?"

"Oh, Maura," Mama Rizzoli took the young blonde by the arm and followed her to the kitchen. "It's all in the mother's touch."

"Do I not have the mother's touch?" the medical examiner asked, worry lines crinkling her forehead. "Perhaps it's a hormonal imbalance. Neither Jane nor I are Kimberly's biological mother. Perhaps we just cannot bond to her the way that Loraine could and she senses that " Maura considered the possibilities aloud, "do you know how complex the human mind is? Even at a young age, there are certain expectations—"

"Maura," Angela squeezed the blonde's arm, "shush and listen to me." As the younger mother smiled tightly back at her mother-in-law, she continued. "There are many other ways that women can bond with infants, and I _know_ that you aware of this."

"Yes," the honey blonde admitted, pouting slightly. "It's just discouraging, Angela. I cannot even get my child to calm down for a nap. Jane already worries about her parenting abilities, and this much is making everything worse." The two women came up on the dark-haired detective, who was in the middle of dumping a heaping of sugar into her refilled coffee mug.

"First-time mothers always go through this, you hear me?" Mama Rizzoli told Maura, glancing between both her daughter-in-law, and her daughter as well. "You just have to find another alternative. Don't just give up and act like there's no hope!"

"That is why I called you, Angela," Maura began, sparing her a warm smile. The honey blonde then came up to her wife, who just slipped her free arm around her instinctively.

"Hey ma," Jane greeted groggily. "Want some coffee or somethin'?"

"Oh, why not?" the eldest Rizzoli shrugged, heading over for the coffee pot.

The medical examiner kissed her wife quickly on the cheek before she went rummaging through the cabinets to whip up lunch. "Hope everyone's hungry," she added in a singsong.

"Whoever isn't hungry for _your_ food, babe, is a madman," the detective made a face, "or just an idiot."

"Whomever," Maura corrected quickly. "But thank you for the compliment, darling."

o—o—o

After lunch, Maura and Jane both glanced up at the kitchen clock. It had been about two and a half hours since Kimberly was last fed, which meant that she was due for another feeding in another half hour. Both women kept a listen out for the baby monitor that stayed by Jane's side whenever Kimberly was left alone for _any_ reason.

"Kimberly's probably about to start wailing at any moment," the detective began, breaking the silence. She burrowed her head against her wife's neck and took in her scent for as long as she could. It was comforting, and always would be.

Sure enough, the sound of a baby screaming from the top of its lungs reverberated through the room. Maura grew more alert and headed right for the living room. Jane just smiled at her mother and followed the honey blonde out.

Angela just sat back in the armchair and watched both mothers as they worked with their newborn. Maura scooped the baby up in her arms, which shut her right up. She smiled down at Kimberly and instinctively began murmuring something to her. The newborn just gurgled and stared up at her with wide eyes. Having Kimberly in her arms was really quite different from when she cared for Tommy and Lydia's baby months ago. Kimberly was _her_ baby, something that made everything that more real for Doctor Rizzoli-Isles. But that something also made it that much more terrifying.

"See? You're a natural, babe," Jane told her wife, kissing her cheek as she joined her on the couch. "She just gets a little fussy."

Maura bounced her baby slightly, still smiling down at her. "I just wish that she would calm down so easily when it was time for bed."

"Have you tried using that mobile that I gave you for the baby shower?" Angela asked. "I know you have it up, but do you play it for her at night?"

"Of course we do," the doctor told her mother-in-law. It played "Braham's Lullaby", but it just didn't quite calm the baby down enough. "She just doesn't seem to like it very much."

Angela rolled her eyes. "She must get her pickiness from her ma," she sent a glare over to her daughter. "Isn't that right, Janie?"

Jane gawked back at her mother. "Hey, what are you sayin', ma?!"

"I don't know, Jane. For an adopted child, she sure is acting a lot like you," Angela supplied, a joking twinkle in her eyes. "She's hardheaded, won't sleep at night. And she has particular tastes. Just like you were as a baby."

"Well, what did you do, Angela?" Maura asked, genuinely curious. She kept her eyes trained on a cooing Kimberly, but she would occasionally look back over at her wife and mother-in-law.

"I have an idea that just might be crazy enough to work. Maura, grab a CD of yours that has one of your favorite instrumental pieces on it. Jane," she eyed her daughter carefully, "you do the same. If you play one that you enjoy while you're rocking Kimberly to sleep—"

"She feels that we're at peace, so she should be too. It's pure mother-child instinct," Maura finished for Angela. When the elder Rizzoli nodded, the honey blonde handed Kimberly over to Jane.

"Where are you going, babe?" Jane asked, glancing up at her wife.

"To get my CD of choice. I'll be back," Maura told her, heading back to the bedroom that she shared with the detective. Doctor Rizzoli-Isles considered this to be a scientific experiment, one that she needed a quick solution to, however.

o—o—o

Maura lay side-by-side with her wife later that night, Kimberly tucked sound asleep in her arms. Angela's trick had worked, believe it or not. Within the first few minutes of the old Irish song "The Parting Glass", the infant had dipped off into a deep sleep.

"Would you look at that," Jane whispered to the medical examiner, glancing down at their sleeping daughter. "It's ten at night and she's fast asleep."

"Don't jinx it," Maura told her, laughing quietly.

The detective smiled and leaned over to kiss her wife gently. She was surprised to receive an eager kiss back not even a beat later. "No telling how long she'll be out, but hey," she rasped after they broke apart.

The medical examiner took in a deep breath and went to sit up as gently as she could with the bundle in her arms. "Let me get her in the bassinette before we start celebrating, hm?"

"I'll be waiting," Jane propped herself up on her elbows to give her wife one more kiss before sending her off to the nursery. She would be happy to see Maura coming back to bed without Kimberly in her arms, just like she would be happy to have her lower herself on top of her as they kissed like there was no tomorrow.

**Reviews would be super awesome!**


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